What an absolute gremlin of a chapter. Stupid hard to write.
The longer the Asgardians put on their show, the more on edge Tony felt. A huffing and puffing Happy finally arrived with the Suitcase Armor while Brunnhilde was getting set to play tug-of-war against a few dozen people (mostly men with cocky expressions) from the crowd.
"What, did you change your mind about letting the Colonel have all the fun?" said Happy.
"Something like that," said Tony. If he told Happy about the squashed bullet in his pocket, no power on Earth would stop him from going into full red alert mode. Happy turned and headed back off the field, speaking into a walkie-talkie as he went. Tony stuck his foot into the activation slot on the case. It popped open along the edge...and then nothing else happened. A fresh frisson of panic went through him. He pressed his foot down more firmly. Still nothing.
"We can probably do the 'grand finale' soon," said Loki's voice in his earpiece. "There's something I'd like to try. It's not quite what we discussed but I think all the children here will enjoy it."
"Yeah, okay," said Tony, trying the start-up mechanism again. He couldn't even ask JARVIS to run diagnostics without risking someone noticing.
"Is all well, Stark?"
Tony jumped, nearly stubbing his toe on the inside of the case. Loki was not still across the field like Tony had thought, but instead had popped over to the stage and was regarding him a little too shrewdly with those red eyes. "Not exactly," said Tony, keeping his voice down so neither Pepper nor the reporters would hear. "An assassin tried to shoot me."
"What?" said Loki, scanning the field and the stands, expression fierce. "Who? Where?"
"Cap and Romanoff are chasing him down. Rhodey's on the lookout for accomplices. I was gonna suit up in case of more bullets, but I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties."
"Yet you choose to remain?"
"This thing has to work," said Tony, gesturing around at the stadium. "For both of our worlds, right?"
Loki looked at him intently, then nodded. "Here." He waved a hand, which glowed green-gold. Then Tony watched a perfect replica of himself take a couple steps forward. When he looked down, he couldn't see his body at all. He pinched his arm. It hurt, and he still felt solid. It wasn't as weird as being a flying squirrel, but he definitely hadn't expected it. "A cloaking spell and a simulacrum," Loki explained. "It will copy your movements and speak with your voice while you remain safely invisible."
"Thanks, pal," said Tony. His heart wasn't pounding quite so hard now.
"Of course," said Loki.
X
All Steve could think running down the streets of Harlem was that this was something he should've been able to stop. If he hadn't gone into the ice, how much sooner could he have found Bucky? How much of what Hydra had done to him could he have saved him from? Could he have gotten to him before they made him forget what he was fighting for? The sound of his own name? The friend who was as good as a brother? God, and what about Bucky's actual brother and sisters? Were they still alive? Did any of them still live in Brooklyn? Steve had personally written the letter to the Barnes family after Bucky fell, but if there had been a reply, it had come too late for him to see it.
Steve was fast, but the motorcycle was faster, and Bucky wove between and around the slower cars like an expert. He turned a corner onto 145th up ahead, and by the time Steve reached it, he couldn't see the bike anymore.
"Rogers," came Romanoff's voice. "I activated SHIELD's tracking system on the bike. I don't know how long he's planning on keeping it, but I doubt he'll ride it all the way to his rendez-vous point. How much of a lead does he have on you?"
"Just lost visual," said Steve.
"He's heading south on Bradhurst Avenue."
"Got it," said Steve, sprinting across the street. "Thanks."
"I still think this is a bad idea, but it's your call."
X
Thor gave a hearty laugh at the sight of Brunnhilde pulling the long line of men down with the chain. A few of the humans on the field had come along to test whether the vehicles they'd been tossing about were truly so heavy and solid, then slunk away, looking almost disappointed to learn that it really hadn't been a trick. Stark had indeed done an excellent job setting all of this up.
Loki appeared at his side. "Only one thing left to show them, Brother."
"You don't want to demonstrate a few of your spells first?"
"As gratifying as that might be, I do not think additional displays of sorcery will greatly endear me to the Ancient One, and I will not jeopardize my chance to study mortal magic. Now just do what you always do and I'll work out the rest."
"Don't give yourself another frjosleikr fever."
"I assure you that is a lesson I only needed to learn once."
Loki was generally quite good at staying within his limits once he knew them, so Thor wasn't worried. In any case, he'd been looking forward to trying this since the day Loki learned of his heritage.
Thor returned to the platform and shot a glance at Stark, who nodded. He grinned. The final notes of the first song faded out, and the more strident opening chords of the next began. He leaned over the microphone. "Alright, we'll get back to answering your questions soon, but first, would you like to see why they call me the God of Thunder?"
X
Out of nowhere, rain started coming down in sheets. Lightning split the sky, casting every building, car, and pedestrian into sharp relief, and thunder crashed almost immediately after. Most of the other people in the street made sounds of dismay and picked up their speed or opened up umbrellas, but Steve just kept running. Based on Romanoff's directions, Bucky was headed straight down the adjacent street, and there wasn't anywhere for him to go on it but south for another couple blocks.
Steve cut through a narrow alley, leaping trash cans and a chain link fence. "It's gonna be close, but you should come out right on top of him," said Romanoff. Steve had no idea how she was pinning his location down like this, but she was correct. The motorcycle was nearly level with the mouth of the alley on the other side of the two-lane street when he emerged from between the two buildings.
Steve didn't waste his chance. There were no cars in the way, so he sprang towards the opposite side of the road. Another flash of lightning lit up Bucky's surprised face as he tackled him right off the motorcycle, which tipped without its rider and skidded into a parked car with a shower of sparks.
X
Stark had chosen the perfect music once again. Loki now understood why he kept calling Thor "Thunderstruck." Thor timed the first and only bolt of lightning to actually touch down on the field with the beginning of the lyrics, then kept the rest dancing in the clouds so as not to alarm the mortals.
As for Loki, he would not have attempted his part without the Casket of Ancient Winters. With it, turning the rain Thor called forth into snow on the way down to the stadium was as simple as forming a thought. Gerd and Fjolnir would be very impressed. He felt millions of raindrops crystallizing and clumping together in response to his will, and his very being seemed to sing with the power of it. Loki was sure that Odin had been correct when he claimed that the Casket was not meant to be a weapon. It seemed alive in Loki's hands, and while it was capable of summoning the deadliest of winter storms if the wielder brought that intent, it eagerly embraced the sheer joy of fresh, untouched snow.
The snow fell so thick that it would soon blanket the field. Loki took care to draw the heat out of the ground to help it stick, which provided plenty of energy to help make the snowflakes extra large. The lightning looked different through snow than it did through rain. Sort of bluish-purple, and the sound of the thunder was a little softer.
Loki relished the thought of what Laufey might think of this: the Casket returned to the world he once sought to conquer—in the hands of the son he sought to dispose of—for no greater purpose than to delight mortal children. And delighted they were. Hundreds of them poured out of the stands in a chorus of shrieks and giggles.
X
People on the sidewalk yelled in alarm and a few swore as they scrambled out of the way. Steve tried to get Bucky into a hold but had to fend off the metal arm. Within seconds, he was on the defensive. Bucky was using moves Steve had never encountered before and still showed no sign of recognition. He wanted to try to reason with him but Bucky pulled a knife and he was forced to devote all his attention to not getting stabbed.
"Bucky, stop! Don't you know me?"
"What are you talking about?" Bucky snarled.
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes," said Steve, deflecting another lunge with the knife and trying to grab the arm to put it in a lock. "You've known me your entire life. We grew up just a few miles from here."
"Shut up!" Drenched in rain and face twisted with rage, Bucky looked almost feral. He threw off the arm lock and dropped the knife into his other hand. Steve barely kept his footing jumping back to avoid the next sweep of the knife, but Bucky followed up with a kick to the gut. The impact sent Steve crashing into a bench.
Bucky turned and started running again. Steve gave chase, but before he could catch up, Bucky grabbed a woman whose attention had been on the little rectangular device in her hand, sending her umbrella tumbling. He turned to face Steve, metal hand over her mouth, the other pressing the dagger to her throat as he dragged her back into another alley.
"Let her go!" Steve yelled.
"Stop chasing me," said Bucky.
Steve raised his hands, drawing slowly closer. Nobody else was around; the downpour had sent most people rushing indoors. Steve looked at the whimpering girl who was standing as still as she could, eyes locked pleadingly on his. Lightning briefly illuminated her terrified features. "You don't have to be Hydra's weapon, Buck."
His words had no effect. Bucky's face was cold and closed off. "Don't follow me," he said. Before Steve could do anything else, Bucky plunged the knife into the girl's stomach and threw her at him, then bolted deeper into the alley.
X
Natasha handed the cab driver his fare and stepped out into the storm. Her SHIELD bike was lying on its side behind a parked car with a freshly dented bumper, but Rogers and Barnes were nowhere in sight. She jogged along the sidewalk until she came to a little alley between a barber shop and a pizzeria. Rogers was there with a girl who looked about college age. His hands were pressed tightly over her stomach, and blood seeped out between his fingers, mingling with the rain. The girl was conscious but very pale.
"He stabbed her," said Rogers. "Just to keep me from chasing him." He looked up at Natasha. "What the hell did they do to him?"
"I don't know," she said as she dialed 911. Her instinct (which might be taking most of its cues from her bullet wound) was to treat Barnes as a hostile, but she didn't think Thor would have given Rogers the tip about his friend if there was nothing left of him to save, so she bit back her skepticism. "Whatever it was, they did a good job, but this isn't over. We'll find him."
X
After about half an hour, Yankee Stadium was covered in about six inches of perfect packing snow with more still coming down, and the children of New York were making good use of it. Though few of them were dressed for cold weather, they gleefully built snowmen, rolled about in the snow, and waged an epic snowball battle, which all three Asgardians participated in gladly.
At one point during the fray, Thor introduced Loki to a small boy he had met on their previous visit to Earth, who proudly brandished a toy Mjolnir he appeared to have crafted himself.
When the snow was all eventually reduced to reddish brown slush and the field was completely unrecognizable, Loki, Thor, and Brunnhilde returned to the stage. Everyone was a bit untidy and covered in patches of snow, but spirits were high. Stark seemed a bit more himself as well, and Loki discreetly dispensed with the protective illusions around him.
"If we have proven our identities to your satisfaction, we are happy to answer more of your questions," said Thor. The storm clouds were beginning to part and would be entirely gone in moments. Loki had already returned the Casket to his dimensional pocket, but now he fully switched back to his Aesir form, which seemed more fitting if he was here representing Asgard.
"Um, well…" said one reporter, seemingly at a loss. Another took advantage of his hesitation to jump in.
"You've come here as the Norse Gods of Thunder and Mischief. How do you expect Earth to take that information?"
"We're not here to ask anyone to worship us, if that's what worries you," said Thor.
Loki could hear, plain as if he was standing there with him, Fandral's voice quipping, "but who would blame you if you did?" It sent a jolt through him. How were he and the others doing on Asgard? What had Volstagg and Hogun made of Fandral's betrayal? Was the group of friends already laughing together again? He shook himself and leaned closer to the microphone. "We earned our titles by Asgard's reckoning, but we have come to Earth to forge ties of friendship and diplomacy. Nothing more."
"Is this your first time on Earth?" said the first reporter, finally unsticking his tongue.
"Loki's and my second this month," said Thor. "Though it had been over a century since we last came to this planet. We are fond of Earth, of course, but it doesn't often demand as much of our attention as the other realms we defend."
"So there are other populated planets out there?"
"Oh yeah," said Brunnhilde. "Loads of them."
"You mentioned earlier that you defended Earth from an invasion? What did you mean by that?"
X
No one was following him anymore. He should head straight to the rendez-vous point and put the entire failed mission behind him. He decided to take a less direct route just to be safe. That was the only reason. It wasn't that different buildings and streets he passed tugged at him—and more, the farther south he walked. It wasn't the image of his pursuer's face burned into his mind. Another face jumped out of his memories. An older one. One of his past targets. High profile. There had been recognition in that face too, and he'd called him Sergeant Barnes. Too many pieces were fitting together.
"Soldier."
He snapped around to face the speaker. It was his handler, standing next to the open passenger door of a black SUV. He didn't relax.
"Get in. It's time to debrief."
He climbed obediently into the vehicle. "Mission failure," he said. The first time he'd ever said it.
I can finally close all my NYC research tabs. Yay! I had a lot of them.
I wanted to title the chapter "Thundersnow," but that would've given it away. I absolutely loved having Thor unintentionally provide mood weather for the whole chapter. It worked really well for Steve and Bucky's fight. With Bucky, I've decided that he mostly remembers everything since Hydra started sending him on missions. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to give Zemo a mission report. So that means he can now make a connection between Howard and Steve recognizing him and saying his name. His brain is still very broken, though.
Tony and Loki's friendship levels up again. I'm really enjoying that dynamic. Turns out when they meet under pleasant circumstances, they're pretty good at bringing out the best in each other. Even if that includes a prank war.
The Asgardians will probably be heading home soon. I'm really looking forward to some of the plot threads coming up.